Dead Celebrity Alert

In Memoriam: Mark Chorvinsky (1954-2005)

Mark Chorvinsky, the Editor/Publisher of Strange Magazine and the strangemag.com website, passed away on July 16, 2005, several months after his completion of issue 23 of the online Strange Magazine, for which he wrote his final articles — “Glowing Eyes” and “Cowboys & Dragons: Part Three.” … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES — Myron Floren, the accordion virtuoso who came to fame in the mid-1950s as a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show, has died. He was 85. Floren, who continued performing until the last few months, died of cancer Saturday at his home in Rolling Hills Estates … Read full obituary

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Long John Baldry, the British blues legend who helped launch the careers of such rock greats as Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones, has died, his agent and friends said. He was 64. … Read full obituary

LOS ANGELES – James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original “Star Trek” TV series and motion pictures who responded to the command “Beam me up, Scotty,” died early today. He was 85. … Read full obituary

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Retired Gen. William Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968 and advocated a strong military buildup at a time when American casualties were mounting, has died. … Read full obituary

Geraldine Fitzgerald, who appeared in such 1930s films as “Dark Victory” and “Wuthering Heights” and later had a career on the New York stage, died Sunday in Manhattan of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 91. … Read full obituary

Former Conservative Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath has died at the age of 89.

His successor Lady Thatcher said he was a “political giant” and “in every sense the first modern Conservative leader”. … Read full obituary

AP — Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram, who took the Kansas City Chiefs to two Super Bowls and was known for his inventive game plans and exuberance on the sideline, died Monday, his family said. He was 82. … Read full obituary

Australian film director William Mather-Brown rescued 11-year-old Nicolas but could not save himself from the fast-flowing Var River, near Nice.

Sodden and distressed after his father pushed him onto the river bank, Nicolas took his sister Olivia, 7, and ran for help.

“I think my daddy has just drowned,” he told a couple who were strolling nearby. … Read full obituary

Shelby Foote, the author who died in Memphis June 27 at the age of 88, never imagined fame would come the way it did. As a youth in Mississippi, he dreamed of being a great novelist, like William Faulkner, whom he and his boyhood pal Walker Percy once visited. … Read full obituary

JACKSON — John Walton was one of the world’s richest men, an heir to the Wal-Mart fortune. But on Thursday, three days after he was killed in an aircraft accident, Walton’s friends and family remembered him for his giving and his kindness, describing him as the “ultimate hero” to his wife and son. … Read full obituary

John Fiedler, the actor whose distinctive high-pitched tones made him perfect for the voice of Piglet in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh films, died on Saturday. He was 80. … Read full obituary

Luther Vandross, the silky-voiced R&B crooner who spun romance into hits like “Here and Now” and “Any Love,” winning eight Grammy Awards, died yesterday afternoon at John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison, N.J. He was 54. … Read full obituary